SAARC STANDING COMMITTEE HOLDS ITS TWENTY-SIXTH SESSION

The twenty-sixth session of the SAARC Standing Committee, comprising the Foreign Secretaries of Member States, was held at Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka on 15-17 March under the Chairmanship of the Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka, Wilhelm Wourterz.

The three-day meeting, which preceded the twenty-first session of the Council of Ministers devoted one day specially to examination of the recommendations made by the Group of Eminent Persons on revitalizing SAARC and the Independent Expert Group on the Integrated Programme of Action which had reviewed the functioning of the various Technical Committees under the IPA.

The Committee heard the Analytical Report by the Secretary-General of SAARC, Nihal Rodrigo, which reviewed the activities of SAARC since the twenty-fifth session of the Standing Committee. The Report also identified a number of priorities for action during the months leading upto the Eleventh SAARC Summit scheduled for later this year and highlighted matters on which decisions were required by the Committee.

The Foreign Secretaries approved various Reports of the Technical Committees that had met since the last meeting of the Standing Committee, which included, Agriculture, Science and Technology, Prevention of Drug Trafficking and Drug Abuse, Transport and the Report of the SAVE Committee.

The Reports of the Governing Boards of the SAARC Regional Centres, along with their budgets were approved by the Standing Committee during its twenty-sixth session. The Committee also considered the Report of the Expert Group on the Salaries and Allowances in the Regional Centres as well as the Report of the Secretary General regarding the implementation of the decisions of the Standing Committee on the functioning of the Regional Centres. It reviewed progress in the implementation of the two Regional Conventions on Drug Abuse and Terrorism. A meeting of Legal Experts is to be held in June in Sri Lanka which will, inter-alia, examine the need to update the Convention on Terrorism in the light of current developments in the field.

On the economic front, the Committee stressed the importance of accelerating trade and economic cooperation within the region and the need to identify areas of convergence with regard to the forthcoming trade negotiations in the multinational fora. The Committee of Experts set up to draft the treaty on SAFTA was asked to outline a definitive programme of work which will enable finalisation of the text of a comprehensive treaty regime for creating a free trade area by the year 2001. The Committee of Experts will also subsume the work of the IGEG which will now cease to exist. The Committee is expected to meet in Kathmandu shortly.

With regard to evolving common positions on issues of common concern at the WTO, the Commerce Secretaries are expected to meet in June and September, followed by a meeting of the Commerce Ministers prior to the Third WTO Ministerial Meeting to be held in Seattle.

A presentation on the outcome of the first meeting of the Vice Chancellors of Open Universities held in Sri Lanka in January 1999, was made by Prof. N.R.Arthenayake, Vice Chancellor. The Standing Committee endorsed the recommendation of the meeting to commence work towards the establishment of SAARC Consortium of Open and Distance Learning (SACODiL) in the near future.

The Standing Committee also addressed a number of issues relating to the Secretariat, including the approval of the 1999 budget and the appointment of Auditors from Sri Lanka and Nepal to audit the accounts of the Secretariat and the Regional Centres for the past year.

The Committee decided that the theme of the 1999 SAARC Youth Award, which is to be presented during the Council of Ministers meeting preceding the Eleventh Summit, will be "Creative Photography". The SAARC Youth Award Scheme, which came into effect in 1997, is to be reviewed by an Expert Group meeting later this year.

The twenty-sixth session of the Standing Committee was preceded by a two-day meeting of the Programming Committee, comprising senior officials, which scrutinized the Reports of the various Technical Committees and the proposed budget of the Secretariat for the year 1999, before presenting the same to the Foreign Secretaries. The Programming Committee also considered the Integrated Programme of Action and submitted its recommendations to the Foreign Secretaries.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MEETING ENDS IN NEW DELHI

Sixteenth meeting of the SAARC Technical Committee on Science and Technology was held in New Delhi on February 24-26, 1999. Representatives from all Member States attended the meeting. SAARC Secretariat was represented by Director, Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed.

The meeting reviewed implementation of its earlier decisions and recommended new programmes and activities. One day was specially devoted for discussions on cooperation in biotechnology amongst SAARC countries this time. It was decided that in future, a one-day session of experts in the area of biotechnology would be organised along with the annual meeting of the SAARC Technical Committee on Science and Technology. Member States agreed to consider a concept paper prepared by India on developing an institutional framework for cooperation in biotechnology.

The Committee identified a number of areas for collaboration and developing detailed Plans of Action, which would be prepared by the Department of Biotechnology, India, based on inputs received by the concerned Member States by end May 1999. The areas include, Plant Tissue Culture; Preparation of Inventory of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the SAARC countries and Preparation of Various Herbal Medicines used in Traditional Systems of Medicines; Plant Biotechnology, including Therapeutic Products, Edible Vaccines, etc. Vaccines and Diagnostics for Humans and Animals; Aquaculture; and Human Resource Development in Biotechnology.

An Expert Group meeting is to be held in India to finalize the action plan for cooperation in biotechnology.

A number of special projects are also to be submitted for consideration by the forthcoming meeting of the Science and Technology Ministers of SAARC countries to be held in India later this year. The Ministers have been mandated by the Tenth SAARC Summit to launch a SAARC Technology Initiative and Member States have been urged to submit proposals under the SAARC Technology Initiative for consideration by the SAARC S&T Ministers' Conference.

The Committee recommended that it would be highly desirable to prepare a common position of SAARC countries on the agenda and documents to be adopted at the World Conference on Science to be held at Budapest, Hungary from June 26 - July 1. It agreed to work towards finalizing a Consensus Report on behalf of SAARC countries for submission to the next meeting of the SAARC Council of Ministers.

The meeting also reviewed progress in the implementation of its activities under IPA and the SAARC-Japan Special Fund and identified new proposals for implementation in 1999.

AGRICULTURE EXPERTS GATHER IN NEW DELHI

Agriculture Experts from SAARC Member States met for the seventeenth meeting of the Technical Committee in New Delhi on February 15-17.

This year, the main highlight of the Technical Committee on Agriculture was the consideration of the theme "Development of Horticulture in the Member Countries". The major part of the discussions was devoted to the elaboration of steps/initiatives to promote cooperation in such key areas as (a) germplasm collection, evaluation for sustainable use and documentation and joint explorations, (b) R&D projects, (c) training programmes, (d) maintenance of database on horticulture commodities, (e) post-harvest technology and marketing and (f) vegetable seed production.

The meeting considered a number of important issues regarding strengthening of the networking arrangements among Member States to ensure sustained interactions on specific issues relating to production, marketing and other related matters to facilitate sustained development of agricultural sector in South Asia. It also agreed to initiate a number of concrete measures to elaborate regional plans and programmes to increase production of specific cash and non-cash crops in South Asia as well as better utilisation of services offered by the SAARC Agricultural Information Centre (SAIC) in Dhaka.

The occasion provided by the seventeenth meeting of the Technical Committee on Agriculture also enabled the Member States to review the activities held under the Committee in 1998 and to finalise the list of activities for 1999. The Committee recommended three activities for 1999, namely (a) Training-cum-Demonstration Programme on Watershed Management Approach (India); (b) Workshop on Walnuts and Coconut Programme (Nepal) and (c) Workshop on Soil Fertility Management for increasing productivity in rice based cropping systems (Sri Lanka).

The Union Minister of State on Agriculture of India Shri Som Pal inaugurated the seventeenth meeting of the Technical Committee on Agriculture. Dr. R.S.Paroda, Director-General, ICAR and Secretary, DARE, Government of India also spoke on the occasion. The participants in the meeting were also taken on tours to a number of key Indian Agricultural Research institutions in and around New Delhi.

TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT MEETS IN ISLAMABAD

The seventeenth meeting of the Technical Committee on Transport was held in Islamabad on March 3-4 with the participation of all Member States. The Committee discussed follow up actions taken since its last meeting on the Compendia of Information of Roads; Road Transport; Railway Transport; Air Transport; Directories on (1) Centres of excellence and (2) Consultants and experts in the field of transport; Highway safety; Public passenger transport; Driving licenses; Cooperation with international and regional organizations in the field of transport; and involvement of NGOs and the professional bodies in expanding cooperation in the transport sector.

The meeting felt that the recommendations as contained in the report on "Transport Infrastructure and Transit Facilities in the SAARC Region" needed to be updated by incorporating developments which had taken place in the region since the report was prepared in 1994. The Committee recommended that a team of experts, including a transport expert be constituted to identify specific measures for the implementation of the recommendations as contained in the report.

The launching of a SAARC website containing information on the transport sector was discussed at length. The need to develop a suitable format for launching information on transport in the website was flagged for the Committee's future consideration.

During the two-day meeting, papers focusing on policy reforms and institutional re-structuring; road development and future strategy; axle load situation; and road management and financing were presented to the Committee.

The Committee agreed on the need to take up a technical study of the various rail systems operative in the SAARC countries and suggest measures for their development, maintenance and standardization as well as also train railway managers to improve their skill in the area of rail transportation management and multi-modal transportation. The study could dwell upon the possible areas of private participation.

The question of exploring possibilities of according recognition to a common Motor Vehicle Driving License acceptable to all Member States was discussed by the Technical Committee.

The Committee emphasized the need for follow up actions at national as well as Regional level on the recommendations made by the seminars/workshops held on a regular basis under this Committee. The Secretariat was requested to gather information in this respect from the Member States and prepare a document for the meeting of the Technical Committee on Transport in future.

In order to accelerate trade and economic cooperation and to enhance intra-SAARC Trade flows under SAPTA, the twenty-first session of the SAARC Council of Ministers held on 18-19 March 1999 in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka formally approved the downward revision of the Rules of Origin criteria as applicable under SAPTA Agreement. Consequential amendments have accordingly been made in the relevant Rules of the SAPTA Agreement. As a result, the domestic content requirement of the exportable products from the Member Countries of SAARC has been reduced from 50% to 40%. In keeping with the special criteria percentage for Least Developed Contracting States, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal, the domestic content requirement in the case of exportable products emanating from these Countries has been reduced from the earlier 40% to 30%.

The amended rules now read as follows:

Rule 3: Not wholly produced or obtained - Within the meaning of Rule 1(b), products worked on or processed as a result of which the total value of the materials, parts or produce originating from non-Contracting States or of undetermined origin used does not exceed 60 per cent of the f.o.b. value of the products produced or obtained and the final process of manufacture is performed within the territory of the exporting Contracting State shall be eligible for preferential concessions subject to the provisions of Rule 3(c) and Rule 4.

Rule 4: Cumulative rules of origin - Products which comply with origin requirements provided for in Rule 1 and which are used by a Contracting State as input for a finished product eligible for preferential treatment by another Contracting State shall be considered as a product originating in the territory of the Contracting State where working or processing of the finished product has taken place provided that the aggregate content originating in the territory of the Contracting State is not less than 50 percent of its f.o.b. value.

Rule 10: Special criteria percentage – Products originating in Least Developed Contracting States can be allowed a favourable 10 percentage points applied to the percentage established in Rules 3 and 4. Thus, for Rule 3, the percentage would not exceed 70 per cent, and for Rule 4, the percentage would not be less than 40 per cent.

NETWORK OF SAARC RESEARCHERS ON GLOBAL FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC ISSUES LAUNCHED

Following a decision taken at the Tenth Summit in Colombo to establish a Network of Researchers on Global Financial and Economic Issues, the first meeting was held in Colombo 23-24 February 1999 under the Chairmanship of Dr. Gamini Corea. The Network brings together representatives from private sector, the Central Banks, the Planning Ministries, research institutions, eminent economists, government and others whose principal responsibility would be to identify, analyse and help SAARC face up to current global, financial and economic developments affecting the region. Dr. Corea said that the Network would focus on external economic issues and the manner in which they impact not only on the Member States individually but on the region as a whole. The emerging global economic environment and the negotiations in the multilateral economic arena posed challenges which, Dr. Corea said, the network would critically examine with a view to identifying commonalties so that the region’s interests were fully protected and projected. In this context, the East Asian financial crisis, the forthcoming 3rd Ministerial WTO Meeting and in particular the attempt to introduce environmental standards, labour standards and other issues to restrict market access in the developed world, matters related to intellectual property rights, issues concerning international guidelines and norms with regard to food safety, hygiene, packaging and labelling, etc were raised by the participants as timely and urgent for consideration by the region.

Sri Lanka would be the coordinator for the Network for a period of two years after which the baton would pass on to Bangladesh. The SAARC Secretariat would interface with the coordinator and the other National Focal Points to facilitate identifying issues and bringing out reports. The next Meeting of the Network would be held in Colombo in May 1999.

A number of books on India were presented to the Secretariat Library by the Indian Ambassador to Nepal, K.V. Rajan, when he called on the Secretary-General in February. The books covering a wide range of subjects, included science and technology; literature; handicrafts, history and politics of India. The new additions will enrich the existing collection of books on India in the Secretariat library, which is used both by the staff and the general public.

The Secretariat Library focuses primarily on the SAARC countries and matters relating to regional cooperation, with particular reference to South Asia. It has received assistance from Member States at various times in the past as well.

GOVERNING BOARD OF SAARC DOCUMENTATION CENTRE MEETS

Sixth meeting of the Governing Board of the SAARC Documentation Centre (SDC) held in New Delhi on February 5-6, 1999. The meeting was attended by all the Members of the Governing Board except from Bhutan.

The meeting decided to set up a website for the Centre. The Government of India offered to fund the proposal subject to examination of technical details and financial aspects. The meeting agreed on the project proposal for conducting Long-Term Courses in Information Science and Certificate Course in Library Science. It was also decided that one person from each Member State may be sponsored for the Master's level Course of INSDOC and Certificate Course of National Open School.

The Board recommended approval of the Programme of the Centre for the year 1999 which include short-term courses, workshops, strengthening/equipping of SDC Cells in Member States and distribution of CDS/ISIS package to NFPs. The meeting recommended an Action Plan for the year 1999.

The SDC was set up in 1994 and is located at the Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre (INSDOC) in New Delhi.

GOVERNING BOARD MEETING OF SAARC HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT CENTRE HELD

First meeting of the Governing Board of the SAARC Human Resource Development Centre (SHRDC) was held at Islamabad on 17-18 February 1999. The meeting was attended by representatives from all Member States and the SAARC Secretariat.

The meeting elected the representative of the Governing Board from Pakistan as its Chairperson for two years and agreed to rotate the Chairpersonship in alphabetical order starting from Sri Lanka. The Terms of Reference of the Centre were recommended for approval along with the budget estimates for the period July 1998 to December 1999.

The meeting recommended the programme of activities of the Centre for the year 1999 which includes (i) Collection and Compilation of Basic Data on Human Resource Development Issues; (ii) Meeting of Nodal Points; (iii) Preparation of Directory for Research Institutions in the region in the area of HRD; (iv) Networking of Institutions and Information to Handle Coordination Work; (v) Development of Training Modules; and (vi) two Training Seminars of short duration. The activities of the Centre also include dissemination of information and publication of a newsletter.

The SHRDC, aimed at developing Human Resources in Member States, inter-alia, in social, economic, educational and environmental fields is located in Islamabad.

SECRETARIAT PARTICIPATES IN THE INDIAN ENGINEERING TRADE FAIR

A SAARC Stall was set up at the 13th Indian Engineering Trade Fair (IETF) held on 12-17 February in New Delhi.

Over 1000 persons visited the SAARC Stall which gave a canopic overview of the various activities currently underway in the SAARC region, covering areas such as economic cooperation, people-to-people contact, poverty alleviation, audio visual exchanges, environment, tourism, and social issues.

This is the second time that the Secretariat has maintained a Stall in the Fair and the response has been considerable. The interest generated and the queries posed would enable the Secretariat to better assess the areas in which its information programme needs to be further strengthened.

During the period under review, Secretary-General, Nihal Rodrigo was received in audience by King of Nepal, Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev and called on Girija Prasad Koirala, Prime Minister of Nepal. He also held discussions with Murari Raj Sharma, Foreign Secretary of Nepal.

The Secretary-General had the opportunity to call on the President of Sri Lanka and the current Chairperson of SAARC, when he travelled to Sri Lanka in March for the twenty-first session of the Council of Ministers and preceding meetings. During the visit, he also called on Lakshman Kadirgamar, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Chairman of the Council; Lakshman Jayakody, Minister of Cultural Affairs; and held discussions with Wilhelm Woutersz, Foreign Secretary and Chairman of SAARC Standing Committee, and other senior officials of the Sri Lankan Government.

Following the Council of Ministers meeting in Sri Lanka, the Secretary-General made an official visit to Maldives on 21-23 March, and was received by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. While in the Maldives, the Secretary-General also called on Fathulla Jameel, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Abdulla Yameen, Minister of Trade and Industries; Ahmed Abdullah, Minister of Health; Aneesa Ahmed, Deputy Minister for Women's Affairs; and had discussions with Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also had a meeting with the members of the Maldives National Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

At the Secretariat, the Secretary-General met with Mohiuddin Ahmed, Ambassador of Bangladesh; K. V. Rajan, Ambassador of India; Kamran Niaz, Ambassador of Pakistan; (Mrs) Pamela J. Deen, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Nepal; and Ralph Frank, Ambassador of the United States to Nepal.

The Secretary-General had discussions with Satyandra Pyara Shrestha, Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank; D. C. Khanna, Executive Director of Nabil Bank; and Ms. Dayani De Silva, Chairman of the Bank of Ceylon. He also met with M. C. McGeever, Head of the European Commission Delegation in New Delhi; Henning Karcher, Resident Representative of UNDP, Nepal; David G. Whittlesey, Regional Representative of International Organization for Migration (IOM), Dhaka; Robert Hamilton, Director of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Canada; Nigel Fisher, Regional Director of UNICEF-Nepal; Winston R. Rudder, Representative, FAO-Nepal; and T. Ishiguri, Director of the UN Regional Center for Peace and Disarmament (Asia and the Pacific) at the Secretariat. Others with which the Secretary-General held discussions during the period included, Suraj Vaidya, Executive Chairman of the SCCI Tourism Council; N. Bajracharya, Chairman, SAARC Hotel Association; Sougata Nandi, Head, CII Nepal Office; and other members of the business community in Nepal.